I've seen way too many posts of people saying David Stern has somehow orchestrated this year's NBA Finals. Many people have obviously said it in jest, but I wanted to get a poll on how many people truly believe it. So the question is, do you believe Stern had a hand in making this NBA Finals, a classic throwback to the peak popularity of the NBA, possible? Either through opportunistic trades (ie Gasol, KG, Ray Allen), referee officiating (ie Lakers beating SA in a crucial game over a very questionable call, or last night's game where many people think Stern wanted to gift basket the win to the Celts), or any other scenario this entire season where Stern made sure the Celtics would meet the Lakers in the finals. And if you do vote yes, I'd like to hear your direct example of what Stern did.
I think everyone likes a conspiracy theory... the fact that the two teams in the finals both did interesting deals gives fodder for those theories. I don't think he fixed it any more than he broke Yao's foot.
Which crackpots answered yes? You'd think we'd have seen more competition from the Celtics or Knicks over the years if any of this cynical thinking were true. It took Stern 20 years to rig this final? Good thinking. And the moon landing was a hoax and Elvis is alive.
yeah, just like he wanted san antonio to win over one of the most exciting teams in phoenix last season when he had stoudemire suspended.
I think he pushed the wolves to trade Garnet, after Lakers did well in the first half, he then made things happen again by pushing the griz to trade pau gasol. so i think he did.
Think about it Garnett,Pierce,Allen,Gasol, and Kobe = major ratings plu more money after all Stern is the boss who wouldn't listen to him? unless they wanted to get fired.I have a feeling Stern hates us
rigged i dont know, but influencing the outcome of various games through foul calls and free throws, yes.
What's your evidence? Why do you think so? Connect A to B to C, etc and tell me why you think so. I know you can do it, but even you would change your mind afterwards if you had to say out loud all the assumptions you're making for this to be true. Maybe conspiracies are just an extension of the entertainment value of basketball. I doubt we actually believe that there's a conspiracy but we wish it were true. It would make life and basketball more interesting. I just think with all the money involved and the turnover rate in any business, there's bound to have been a disgruntled employee who would blow the whole thing wide open. People are not good secret keepers. We're storytellers.
That's what I was getting at with the poll. In every other post someone casually throws out that Stern is involved in the Lakers/Celtics success. I'd like someone to actually think about what they're saying, and provide some actual logic to these types of posts. I'm not even looking for evidence (which I doubt there is any, otherwise it would be all over the news by now). I'd just like to hear how you guys think Stern accomplished this. Do you think he has his people call the refs the night of the game to give a few favorable calls for team A? Did he call Minnesota and actually spent time persuading them to deal Garnett to Boston? Did he tell Memphis to turn down all those offers and give Pau to L.A.? BTW, I'm surprised the results so far are 40/60 w/ 80+ people so far.
Stern couldn't even do that if he tried. I also disagree with the ratings, Chinese fans aren't stupid, they know the Bucks are a boring team to watch. Having Yao in the finals is enough to get their ratings, Yi won't make much of a difference. GASP! he broke Yao's foot?!
